


Socked In

by Deannie



Series: Things to Do on Your Day Off [2]
Category: The Sentinel
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1997-10-27
Updated: 1997-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:27:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deannie/pseuds/Deannie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A snow storm and too much distance...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Socked In

"Man, it's really coming down out there, huh?"

Jim Ellison turned from the window to face his captain. "Yeah. I hope Blair got home okay."

Simon laid a comforting hand on Jim's shoulder. The detective was almost  _too_  paranoid about his lover's safety at times. Though, remembering the number of scrapes Blair had gotten himself into in the last three years, maybe Jim wasn't paranoid enough.

"He'll be fine, Jim--though, if we don't leave now,  _we_  won't be making it home."

Jim turned to grab his coat. "I guess you're right, Simon. Do you want a ride? That sedan of yours isn't going to make it far in this."

Simon considered the offer. He really was on the way home for Jim. After a moment, he nodded. "Sounds good. I'd hate to be stuck out in  _this!_ "

* * *

Blair hated being stuck out in this!

He'd thought he could make it home. Just ten miles of main thoroughfares, right? It shouldn't have been difficult.

But the  _ice_  had been the thing to get him. The Volvo, never the best car in the snow anyway, had decided that the thick sheet of ice  _under_  the foot and a half of snow was a little too much for it, and had taken it into its head to go careening into a snowdrift not a mile from campus.

 _Shit!_  he growled mentally.  _Now I'll have to walk back to the office and call Jim to rescue me in that truck of his._

As he walked, however, Blair began to realise that Jim probably wasn't going anywhere, either. The snow was  _still_  coming down--he thought he'd heard the radio weather say that the rate was something like an inch and a half per hour--and the entire city would be packed in in a few minutes!

He cursed quietly as he walked--mostly to stop himself from freezing. It wasn't  _too_  cold--just 20 degrees or so--but it was enough to start his teeth chattering. The sidewalks were useless, but there was no way he was going to walk on the streets. Not with too many ambitious drivers trying to make it home. No, he'd have to slog through the two and three foot drifts on the side of the road, and hope that he wasn't frozen through by the time he made it to his office.

* * *

Jim fixed himself a pot of coffee and turned on the television. An insanely perky woman was there--far  _too_  perky, given the bags under her eyes and the fact that he had seen her on the news last night--fourteen hours ago.

"Hi, I'm Gina Farland."

"And I'm Mike Drascin," the plastic anchorman beside her added. He laughed plastically and continued. "Well, the fact that Gina and I are  _still_  here should tell you that you really don't want to be on the roads today."

"That's right," Gina agreed. "Actually, our afternoon anchorwoman, Katy Hiland, is currently stuck in her house out by Rainier University. We have her on the line, don't we?" She waited for a moment, staring off toward one of the cameramen. "Katy?"

"Hi, Gina! Well, the roads are a mess out here! If I'm lucky, I should be getting out sometime around spring thaw!"

All three laughed, and Mike leaned forward. "So what's it look like out there, Katy?"

"Well," Katy responded. "We've got about 30 inches now, according to my son, the weatherman." They all laughed at the joke. "The roads out here are pretty much impassable. I saw a few cars trying to make it out from the University, but I doubt any of them made it very far."

Jim looked over at the phone. He should call Blair's office, shouldn't he? Blair wouldn't have tried to go out and drive in this stuff, right? Even  _Simon_  hadn't bothered, and Jim had only barely gotten himself and Simon to their respective homes as it was, and he had a pickup with chains on the tires.

"That's something we want to emphasize here," Mike was saying now. "I'm sure a lot of you trapped in your homes are wondering whether it's really as bad out there as we say. It is, trust us. Just stay in your homes, and wait for the thaw."

"That's right, Mike," Gina broke in. "As a matter of fact, the Governor has just declared a state of emergency for Northwestern Washington state. I have a memo from the Washington National Guard that I'd like to read here:

"As of ten forty-five am on Saturday, October 25, 1997, a state of emergency has been declared for northwestern Washington state, extending from the junction of I-320 and State highway 45 to the Canadian border, and from the west coast to Litton Pass. All citizens are enjoined to stay in their homes. Any non-emergency, non-military vehicles attempting to travel on the main thoroughfares will be stopped."

"And you don't want to try those side streets," Mike broke in. "They're just snow and slush right now, until the snowplows get to them."

Jim reached for the phone. Blair definitely wouldn't have gone out in this, would he? Jim's heart sank as the phone rang six times and transferred him to Blair's voicemail.

"Hi! You've reached Blair Sandburg at Rainier University. I'm either on another line or away from my office at the moment, so if you'll leave a message, I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"Blair, it's Jim. Where the  _hell_  are you?"

* * *

Blair was nearly frozen through by the time Rainier was in sight again. He'd never thought it would take him an hour to walk less than a mile, but the snowdrifts were  _huge,_  and stomping through them had taken most of his energy and, seemingly, all of his heat. He just wanted to get to his office, start a cup of coffee, and call the station to make sure that Jim was safe.

The wind was too loud for him to hear the large military Humvee that pulled up alongside him.

"Sir!" the young officer in the transport called. "Sir?!"

Blair turned, and a smile broke out on his frozen face. "Hey! Who called out the National Guard for me?"

The young officer laughed. "The Governor, sir, but I'm sure it wasn't just for you."

"Could be," Blair allowed pleasantly. "I'm pretty well connected."

"So I guess I  _have_  to give you a ride to the shelter, huh?" The officer was glad that  _this_  guy, at least, was in a good mood. Some of the others he'd picked up were positively livid--like it was the National Guard's fault that Mother Nature had dumped on them.

"Actually, I was hoping to get a ride to my office," Blair ventured. "It's just over at the Anthropology building." He knew he couldn't ask for a ride to the loft--that was  _way_  above and beyond the duty of the National Guard. "I was heading there when you stopped me."

The officer looked skeptical. "We're supposed to take everyone to the shelter they've set up at the Student Union. I don't think--"

"Then I'm right on your way," Blair offered carefully. "Come on, man. If I'm going to be socked in like this, the least I can do is get some paperwork done."

"Look, this is going to last at least until the morning, sir," the officer offered logically. "You'll need a place to sleep--"

"Got a cot in the office," Blair broke in.

The officer gave up. The guy sounded like he'd be just fine, and the Anthro building was only a five minute walk from the Union on a good day. Today, it might take the guy half an hour to get there, but...

"Sure, hop in the back. We'll get you set up with some blankets and food, just in case."

* * *

"We're back on KSEN channel 7 news, covering the Blizzard of '97." Gina was really looking a little frazzled now. Too many hours in front of the camera.

"We're bringing you constant coverage of this situation to sort of underscore the seriousness of it. If you don't have to leave your house, don't. You won't be allowed on the main streets, anyway."

"And speaking of streets," Mike segued flawlessly. "We have a rundown of the major road closures for all of Washington state... I-320, and state highways 45, 58, 85, and 24, are all closed from the south side of Cascade to the Canadian border... Highway 72 is closed from..."

Jim started pacing. Damnit, Sandburg! Where the hell was that kid?!

* * *

Blair was dropped off at the Anthro building an hour after the Humvee had picked him up. He had helped them unload food and supplies for the shelter, and had been disturbed to find that every one of the phones in the building was in use. He hoped Jim was okay. And he  _really_  hoped Jim wasn't sitting around worrying about him.

He took the bundle of blankets and food from the young officer and smiled. "Thanks a lot, man. That shelter was  _way_  too crowded for me."

"No problem. Look, just stay indoors till the weather clears, okay? No more walks in the park."

Blair laughed in return, raising his voice to be heard as the Humvee's motor came back to life. "Don't worry, man! I'm going to curl up in my office with a good book and wait for spring!"

He heard the officer's laugh, but was much more concerned with getting inside and getting  _warm!_  He was absolutely freezing now, and his hands and feet had taken on that not-so-wonderful numbness that came with too many hours in the snow. He pulled open the outside door, and stood for a minute underneath the welcome blast of the heating vent just inside.

* * *

"I don't know, Simon!" Jim paced as he spoke. "I tried to call his office, but all I get is the answering machine. Where could he be?"

"He's probably just waiting it out somewhere, Jim," Simon offered placatingly. "I'm sure the kid is fine."

"So why hasn't he called?"

"If he's at one of the shelters, he's probably waiting in line to do just that. There's three hundred people at the Rainier Student Union alone, waiting this thing out, and I'm sure all of them have family to get in touch with."

Jim calmed down. "You're right, Simon. I know you're right."

"Of course I am. Now get off the phone so he doesn't get a busy signal when he calls."

Jim hung up the phone, still watching the news.

"Now, for those of you worrying about loved ones who may have been out on the roads, we wanted to let you know that the National Guard has set up shelters in all the major cities in the area, and are using Humvees and military transports to get people out of their cars and into these shelters." Gina looked up, apparently getting a signal from offcamera.

"Okay, I'm told that we have a live feed from Tom Aguilera at the Rainier University Student Union. Tom, how's it going out there?"

"Well, Gina," Tom offered, his face red from the cold as he stood just inside the student union doors. "We've got a lot of cold, tired people here. The National Guard picked up a number of people who have been stranded in their vehicles--some since last night!"

He moved into the SU proper, and behind him could be seen a long line of phones--and a longer line of people waiting for them. "We've got a lot of people anxious to call their families and let them know they're all right."

 _And a lot of people waiting to get those calls,_  Jim added silently. He was scanning the lines of people for his lover, when the phone rang, startling him.

"Ellison."

"Jim! Man, I'm glad you made it home, buddy." Blair's teeth were chattering around the words, and Jim scanned the background noise, finding only the soft gurgle of a coffee machine and the buzz of a television on the same station his was. "That is a truly evil storm out there."

Concern transmuted to anger, and Jim was suddenly bellowing into the phone. "Where the  _hell_  have you been, Sandburg! I've been calling your office every fifteen minutes for the last two hours!"

Blair seemed unfazed by the outburst. "The Volvo took a header into a drift, and I had to walk back to the University," he explained calmly. "The National Guard picked me up and dropped me off at my office."

"Your  _office!?_ " Jim cried incredulously. "Why didn't they take you to the shelter?"

"Because I asked them not to," Blair replied. "I went there with them, helped them drop off supplies and such, and then had them drop me here."

Jim blew out a furious breath, and vaguely heard Blair grab a cup of coffee over the line. "You should have stayed at the shelter! They're going to take until tomorrow afternoon at least to dig out the roads and clear them enough so that I can come get you! What about food!? A place to sleep! Didn't you think about that?!"

"Of course I did," Blair replied quietly. "Look, Jim, they dropped me off here with a box of food that'll last me a week. I've got coffee enough for another week beyond that. I've got my hot pot, a cot, a bunch of blankets." He paused to sneeze. "Jim, I'll be fine, okay?" he offered in a tender whisper.

Jim sat on the couch, trying to get some control. "I thought you were trapped out on the road somewhere."

"I'm not, Jim. I'm fine." Blair took a moment to sip his coffee and looked at the tiny television before him. Time to change the topic. "Hey! Do you think the Sharks are going to get out to Buffalo today?"

The news had been buzzing all day about the plight of Cascade's football team. The snow had trapped a number of them in their homes, but they were scheduled to play the Buffalo Bills tomorrow morning. A general plea was out from the Sharks home office for snowmobiles, snowplows, anything that could get the players to the airport, where a charter flight was waiting for them to take them to New York.

"I don't know," Jim answered quietly, allowing Blair to switch the conversation to something slightly less emotional. "I heard they got Davis out via snowmobile."

Blair laughed over the line, and Jim felt his chest loosen slightly. "Man, that's going to read great in the newspapers."

"Only if they win," Jim snorted.

They sat silent on the line for a moment, Jim listening as Blair's breathing became more shallow and congested. "Hey, Chief? You okay?"

Blair suppressed a sneeze. "I'm fine, man. Just tired." The sneeze sneaked out anyway. "And maybe I'm getting a little cold."

Jim sighed. "You shouldn't have tried to get home," he griped.

"Oh, and you're at the station, right? Just where I left you last night, huh?" Blair grinned. "When did  _you_  get home."

Jim smiled in response to the gentle rebuke. "Just about the time they declared the state of emergency."

They laughed together, and continued to watch the reports of the drive to get the Sharks to Buffalo.

It took a few moments for Jim to realise that Blair had managed to fall asleep on the phone, and he smiled to himself, just listening to his lover breathe. It sounded like Blair was going to have one hell of a cold when this was over, but at least he was safe and sound. Sleeping on the phone, however, wasn't going to do him any good.

"Hey Blair?"

No answer.

"Chief? ...BLAIR!"

He heard a sweet little snort of breath as Blair jolted awake.

"Wha?" Blair asked sleepily.

"Go to bed, Love," Jim ordered tenderly.

"No, I'm okay. I just drifted off, that's all."

"You're going to have a crick in your neck if you drift off again, Chief," Jim laughed. "Because I'm  _not_  going to wake you up next time."

He heard Blair moving around for a moment, and the unmistakable sound of a blanket being drawn over his lover's body.

"Okay, Jim," Blair said with a yawn. "I'm in bed--in cot, anyway--so if I fall asleep, I won't have a crick. Satisfied?"

"You should go to sleep, Chief."

"At four o'clock in the afternoon?" Blair asked incredulously. "No way. I'll be up all night."

"I doubt it," Jim grinned. "You'll probably sleep until they come to dig you out."

"Is it still snowing?" Blair whispered, a yawn overtaking him. "I can't see the window from here."

"Yeah, Chief, it's still snowing. They say we should get three feet by the time this thing moves out."

"Three feet..." Blair sighed. "That's one hell of a lot of snow, man."

Jim sank back farther into the couch cushions, wishing he was closer to his lover. They'd spent nights apart before, but he just wanted to curl up with Blair by the fire, and fall asleep as Mother Nature dumped this snow on them.

"Yeah, Chief, that's a lot of snow." He waited a moment, listening to the breath on the other end of the line. "I'm going to hang up now, Chief. Go to sleep."

"NO!" He could hear Blair trying to wake up. "No, Jim, just stay there, all right? I want to talk to you."

Jim laughed. "You're  _asleep!_ "

"Okay, then," Blair replied tiredly. "I want  _you_  to talk to  _me._ "

Jim smiled tenderly. "Only cause I love you, Chief," he whispered. "Only cause I love you."

Blair grinned over the line and let a soft moan of pleasure escape him. "I love you, too, Jim... What's been going on the last few hours? I missed a lot, didn't I?"

Jim shrugged, settling in. "Not much. The Governor declared a state of emergency. Only the National Guard is allowed on the roads... All the highways are closed. Tons of people trapped in their cars..."

He rambled for a few minutes, until he heard Blair's congested breathing drop into sleep. He smiled lovingly, thinking of what Blair must look like, all curled up on his cot, gorgeous in his sleep. "I love you, Blair," he whispered. "Good night."

* * *

Blair looked just like Jim had imagined last night. Adorable. The roads had cleared enough this morning to let him get to the university--even if it  _did_  take him three times as long as it usually did--and he'd used the spare university key Blair always left at the loft to get in. The television was still going, running the pregame show for the Sharks-Bills game, and the phone handset still lay nestled in the crook of Blair's neck, beeping softly to announce a disconnected line.

"Blair?" Jim whispered quietly. The young man on the cot rolled slightly, sending the phone off the sleeping surface.

"Chief?" Jim approached, picking up the phone and placing it back in its cradle. "Lover, come on," he cajoled softly, leaning to kiss his lover's cheek. "Come on, Blair. Time to go home."

"With you?" Blair asked sleepily, a moan of pleasure letting loose. "Are the roads clear?"

"Barely," Jim laughed, watching Blair's eyes come open slowly. "Come on, we'll curl up with hot cocoa and watch the game."

 _That_  woke Blair up. He sat up quickly, blinking his eyes to clear the sleep from them and looking up at his lover. The tender smile that split his face was breathtaking. "Okay, let's go."

* * *

Jim sat on the couch, curled around his lover as they snuggled under the blanket. The snow storm had obviously taken something out of the Sharks. They were trying, but they were still losing.

Blair had been dozing on and off all through the game, and Jim smiled as the younger man's eyes came open once again. "Who's winning?" he asked sleepily.

Jim tightened his hold on his lover. "Buffalo. Seven to three."

Blair yawned. "Damn. I've got money on this game."

"I thought I told you never to gamble again--especially on the Sharks."

Blair snuggled back down. "Just a gentlemen's bet," he drawled, still half asleep.

"Uh-huh."

"Hey, Jim?"

"Yeah, Chief?"

"Thanks for coming to get me."

Jim dropped a kiss on his lover's forehead. "Anytime, love," he whispered. "Anytime."

* * *  
The End


End file.
